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Category: Opinions

Here what I think of all this crypto fever

Published by Paolo on 07/01/2022

I think that technology is beautiful and is never neutral. I believe that video games have always been on the front line of tech utilization. Video games have always pushed the boundaries of technology. In the last decade, they started to become a real massive entertainment medium, influenced by movies and streaming platforms.

NFT, cryptocurrencies, tokens and so on are technologies. As technologies, I think that they can really help with some use cases and features for video games. As technologies they are not neutral. Right now, according to the experts, it is a problem for the environment. So that not only are they not neutral, they are at this very moment a dangerous tech. Also, those technologies will never become games themselves.

Play-to-earn games, for instance, are fun. They offer the investor fantasy, but in the long term when Players take them seriously, they are not a game anymore. They become a gamified investor experience, which is way different from a game. A gamified experience is an experience that adopts some element from games to be more enjoyable. Hardcore players of play-to-earn games do everything to earn more money. They actively participate in a community, they share things and make meaningful experiences. But the end game always involves a marketplace. Not beating the final boss, not climbing a leaderboard. Not for now, at least.

Then there is the industry. As I said in previous posts, the industry does not exist to me. People do. My honest fear is that a lot of money and effort will be completely wasted. Why? Because I look for the names of the founders of new startups and cannot avoid noticing that those people before were all-in on another smoky concept: e-sports. They focus on attracting investments and brands and create hype for some metaverse, but they are not fully aware of what it is to really make video games. They ignore the basics. That could never be good.

On the other side, I see veteran game developers lose their time on Twitter speaking against the “cryptobros”. They speak as the owners of the truth, they lived in the industry since its beginnings. And they mostly still have not realized how many surprises this industry brings. I remember greatly the things they said against the free-to-play business model. History proved them wrong. More than 50% of the global video games revenue comes from mobile. The industry grew and conditions for workers improved a lot thanks to the free-to-play. Whoever denies that, does not see the truth. Full stop. They are the people which really can use NFT tech in a useful way, anyway. They know how to create games and great playful experiences. If they could only put their ego aside, I am sure, they will really help shape the future of all of this.

Can you do the creative work?

Published by Paolo on 06/01/2022

Yesterday a contact on LinkedIn asked for help because he is not able to find any job sending resumes to companies. I told him that that system is completely broken. To me, in fact, it is. I suggested him to focus on his job, to do the job. Then the salary will find him. I am pretty sure about that, especially in a talent eager industry such as the games industry.

Today I read the same guy saying that he would like to create a network of people who can donate maybe 1 euro for him to research and learn new skills everyday. On the same network, on LinkedIn, which is a professional network.

If I imagine to be a company recruiter and I read something like this, in this exact sequence, what can I think about this guy?

Creative work is very different from performing creative activities. If you really want to work in a creative industry like the games industry you should really show off your ability to solve problems, from one side, and be professional from the other side. If you can, you should also worry about what you are sharing with your community.

Working in the games industry is not having creative freedom or being in a hippie community. This is a business that moves billions. You should constantly do the job and learn new things to stay in line with the times. You are there to create serious value bringing fun to people.

Can a test help find a good game designer anymore?

Published by Paolo on 05/01/2022

Technical tests are part of the selection processes of the majority of big games companies all around the World. I tell you something: I have never passed a single one. Am I a bad designer, or is it just not the proper thing to do to find people like me?

Today we are in the times of multipotential. Profiles like a game designer are hard to find, because our value is shown more on the long term. I mean: a programmer can show instantly her C++ skill. An artist can show off 3D Studio Max abilities. When I say instantly, I mean the very first days working at a company.

A game designer is a facilitator of the act of game design inside of a team. We have technical skills that are just hard to show off in a small test. That is why usually the technical tests last one week. But, there is people like me that struggles really to work on anything for free. It is a matter of respect, a matter of professionality. Our time working has a value in money. Full stop. That is why people like me put a small effort in those tests.

“Oh, but if you want to join our company that is your goal!”. Unless you are very big and important, times are not like that anymore. Nowadays I don’t really know if I want to work with you, unless I spent some month already living the reality in working with you.

You can see my portfolio, you can speak with me and check out how I face the problems. That’s it. You don’t need a test, you just need to work with people like me and see what I am capable of.

The games industry does not exist

Published by Paolo on 03/01/2022

It is what I think. In fact, any software industry is a concept. An idea, an adaptation of something physical that does not have a concrete form in our context.

People does exist. I mean, people making software. People making games. So why do we care so much about the industry? People matters, not abstract concepts.

Life is a great adventure, and as every great adventure you need people to live it fully. Good characters for your plot. Good writers. We should care more and more about the well being of the people of the industry.

Subscriptions and more subscriptions

Published by Paolo on 24/12/2021

Are you tired of subscriptions? I am tired of having so many subscriptions.

I am subscribed to newsletters because of my curiosity and need of understanding better the business of making games. 

I am subscribed to Google Suite, because I need to have my documents and researches and everything always available and updated.

I am subscribed to GitHub, because of my studies and experiments.

I am subscribed to fundamental things, things that I use everyday. No bullcrap. Still, I feel very tired of small subscriptions.

How to build a Metaverse in 4 simple steps

Published by Paolo on 21/12/2021

Simple is not easy, of course. I am writing this post because of the continuous DMs on all channels from small ad agencies who would like to have the help of some cheap designer in southern Europe to build what Mark Zuckerberg is building.

Instead of just adding their contact to the spam filter, I would like to give them a guide to build their Metaverse themselves. Let’s go!

Simple Step 1 – Have a team

Games are made with a complete team of people working hard together to serve some audience with a game product or service. If you don’t have a team already, it is very simple: you have to build one! You don’t want to pay a third party to build your core business, don’t you?

Simple Step 2 – Have a team that completes projects

You have to know that the vast majority of video games that are being produced right now will never be released.  The reasons are multiple: no money, no people, no idea of the business are the main ones. Once you have a team, be simple: research small games and let your team make them. Let them prove they can complete a project from start to finish. Don’t be complex, don’t think in the CRYPTOMETACHAIN yet, think in just complete games.

Simple Step 3 – Have a team that completes projects and sells them

The next thing is to be able to market and sell your video games. That is not an easy task, statistics out there speak clearly: more than 90% of video games never get their investment back. Before conquering the World with your fantastic metaverse on the crypto whatever you may want to assure that you know how to sell your games.

Simple Step 4 – Have a team that completes projects and sells so many copies of them that creates an intellectual property

Apart from passing fashions, one thing is clear regarding metaverses: they are virtual places where real people value virtual things equal or greater than real objects. For a metaverse to be really successful in terms of revenues you may want your Players to receive and create great stories on your platform. If you have a strong IP such as Super Mario or Sonic, you will more probably attract the interests toward your platform more than the other metaverse done by one of the richest men in the World. Which is clearly not your case, because otherwise you were not reading these words.

Remember: simple is not easy. In fact, those are very hard steps. Making video games is not like playing video games, but it can be very simple: is just a matter of controlling your ambition according to the resources and the people you have to realize them.

People enjoy challenging fate

Published by Paolo on 18/12/2021

This truth is the basis of many of the first games that humans have played. I believe many have seen artifacts of ancient dice at some exhibit in the city.

Many people today condemn games that include gambling in their experience. “It’s just gambling, it’s not a game!”

And who are you to decide what a game is? To me it’s very simple: if there is a form of fun we can consider it a game. If people can learn something new without dying in the test, we can consider this test a game.

Gambling games, play-to-earn games, they are all games. They all offer their own form of entertainment.

Can a game ruin people? No. People ruin themselves. Accept it. People are a lot smarter than you think. Those who fall into addictions do so for a series of personal problems. It is impossible for a game, or any product, to be able to manipulate any human being.

We need better words

Published by Paolo on 14/12/2021

Yesterday I was reading an interview to a games industry leader in Barcelona. He was speaking about the play-to-earn games and predicting how companies will behave in 2022. He said “it will be a blood bath”.

The other day I was listening to the video channel of a famous industry expert. He was talking about leadership and defended openly the need of “being cruel” in manage people and projects. Not hold the hand, for instance, when someone doesn’t work. Just fire them.

If we really want to have a better industry, we should double check the word we spread to the World. Our words are an important medium of influence of other people. We are all responsible for that.

When we say words, people listening us interpret our speech with their own perception. Perception almost never is equal reality. Perception imposes over our own realities. We are responsible, then, for everything we say and for how we say it.

When you say blood bath, I propose high competition. High competition is safe, is normal in our system and blood baths sadly happen every day in our World. When you say “lead with cruelty” I propose you to lead with patience. The same patience that built the great companies that today publish the greatest game we play.